spready
English
Etymology
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -ɛdi
Adjective
spready (comparative more spready, superlative most spready)
- Tending to spread horizontally.
- 1602, William Basse, Three Pastoral Elegies of Anander, Anetor, and Muridella, Elegie II, in R. Warwick Bond (editor), The Poetical Works of William Basse, London: Ellis & Elvey, 1893, p. 49,[1]
- The spready Beech, and dangling Sycomores
- Were clad in tender leaves and shady shiver,
- 1837, Frank Hall Standish, The Shores of the Mediterranean, London: R. Lumley, Volume 1, Chapter 25, p. 283,[2]
- The walls are covered with good Massimos, and the spready tapestry-coloured canvas of Lucas Giordaino and Solimene.
- 1913, Morris Gouverneur, If You Touch Them They Vanish, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, Chapter 11, p. 125,[3]
- I should use very thick worsted and make very big, loopy, spready stitches.
- 1944, Emily Carr, The House of All Sorts, “Attic Eagles,”[4]
- Things about my place were more spready than high, myself; my house, the sheep-dogs, and Dolf, the Persian cat, whose silver fleece parted down the centre of his back and fluffed wide. Even my apple trees and lilacs grew spready.
- 1602, William Basse, Three Pastoral Elegies of Anander, Anetor, and Muridella, Elegie II, in R. Warwick Bond (editor), The Poetical Works of William Basse, London: Ellis & Elvey, 1893, p. 49,[1]
- (tanning, of an animal hide) Having a large surface area in proportion to its weight.
- 1912, Hides and Skins: From the Animal’s Back to the Tannery Door, Chicago: Shoe and Leather Weekly, “The Hid and Skin Trade in Great Britain,” p. 132,[5]
- A fine spready hide is also obtained from the Hereford breed, these being favored by harness and belting makers.
- 1912, Hides and Skins: From the Animal’s Back to the Tannery Door, Chicago: Shoe and Leather Weekly, “The Hid and Skin Trade in Great Britain,” p. 132,[5]
- (of a microorganism) Having a tendency to spread more easily.
- These bacteria form large, spready colonies.
Noun
spready (plural spreadies)